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Another secondary source where a law firm disagrees with you:

Illegitimate Children

Where the U.S. Citizen is the Mother

As mentioned above, the statutes prior to 1934 did not permit the transmission of citizenship through a U.S. citizen mother. However, the 1934 Statute permitted either the father or mother to transmit U.S. citizenship. This was construed as also authorizing the transmission of citizenship to an illegitimate child born abroad on or after May 24, 1934 to a U.S. citizen mother. However, the 1934 Statute did not apply retroactively to births prior to May 24, 1934.

The 1940 Statute was the first to specifically adopt provisions regulating the status of illegitimate children. It provided that, where paternity had not been established before the child reached the age of 21 through legitimation (normally accomplished by the marriage of the child’s parents) or court adjudication, an illegitimate child could acquire U.S. citizenship through its citizen mother as long as the mother had previously resided in the United States or one of its outlying possessions. .

The 1940 Statute applied to illegitimate children born either before or after the date of its enactment. While it did not confer U.S. citizenship on an illegitimate child of a U.S. citizen mother who had been legitimated by an alien father prior to the child reaching the age of 21, it did not adversely affect the status of anyone who acquired U.S. citizenship prior to such legitimation. Children born on or after January 13, 1941 could acquire U.S. citizenship at birth under the 1940 Statute and did not lose such status, even they were later legitimated by their alien father. Further, children who were born after May 24, 1934 but before January 13, 1941 could acquire U.S. citizenship at birth under the 1934 Statute and did not lose such status as a result of the 1940 Statute, even if they were later legitimated by their alien father. In other words, an illegitimate child born to a U.S. citizen mother and alien father would only be denied citizenship if he or she:

1. was born before May 23, 1934;

2. was legitimated before reaching the age of 21; and

3. was legitimated before January 13, 1941(the effective date of the 1940 Statute).

In light of the 1994 amendment (discussed below) which retroactively authorizes the transmission of U.S. citizenship by U.S. citizen mothers to children (legitimate or illegitimate) born prior to May 23, 1934, the issue of legitimation by an alien father is no longer relevant to the transmission of U.S. citizenship by a U.S. citizen mother to an illegitimate child.

The 1952 Statute provided that an illegitimate child acquired U.S. citizenship from a U.S. citizen mother if the mother was a U.S. citizen at the time of the child’s birth and had been physicially present in the United States or one of its outlying possessions for a continuous period of one year. This provision did not adversely affect the status of anyone who had previously acquired U.S. citizenship. This provision is still in effect.

http://www.americanlaw.com/citabrd.html